Asia,  Destinations,  India

J is for Jaisalmer: desert adventure on a camel

J is for Jaisalmer and even there’re a lot of things to see in the town, the thing I remember most is my two days adventure on a camel .

Jaisalmer - getting ready
Jaisalmer – getting ready

I spent two whole days riding a camel. It wasn’t a big organized trip, it was Charlotte (a Canadian girl I met in India couple of days before), the camels owner, his son and I. We booked it through the hostel we were staying and they provided us with everything for the next two days. The firs thing, we were confronted with, was the fact that they put the eggs on top of the camel without covering them and it was hot, really hot! That was the reason we didn’t eat them the next morning 😉

Jaisalmer - how to transport eggs in the desert
Jaisalmer – how to transport eggs in the desert

Our first stop was at a temple. Sorry, I don’t remember the name anymore, the trip was in 2007!

Jaisalmer - desert temples
Jaisalmer – desert temples

A couple of our later we had the next confrontation with the reality. We stopped for lunch and our guide try to make us filling like queens. He looked for a shadow for us and unloaded a couple of blankets from the camel so we could lay down while we was cooking. Amazing what you can do with such a little resources!! He and his son looked for some wood, made a whole in the ground, lit a fire and cooked lunch.

Jaisalmer - cooking in the desert
Jaisalmer – cooking in the desert

The food was simple but great. He made chapatis and some curry vegetables. It was so spicy that your lips burn in the same moment you put the food into your mouth! But the shock was that they served us and waited until we finished to start eating. He kept asking if we want more food, “we have a lot of food, no problem” we repeated, but the fact was that it wasn’t that much and that they would eat our “leftovers”

Jaisalmer - lunch in the desert
Jaisalmer – lunch in the desert

We arrived for sunset to our “camp”. As said before it was a very simple trip, so there was no luxury, no tents, nothing. We just arrived to a place middle in the dunes were our guide unloaded the camels. Our bed was two blankets, one to put on the ground and the other one to cover ourselves.

Jaisalmer - sunset in the desert
Jaisalmer – sunset in the desert

Everything in the trip was simple. We were waken up with “chai! sunrise! chai!” and the breakfast. A breakfast with eggs that were at least a whole day in the sun.

Jaisalmer - breakfast in the desert
Jaisalmer – breakfast in the desert

It was quite an experience, that I think I won’t have again. At least next time I have to sleep in the desert I would prefer to have a tent or something else, so I don’t wake up cover in sand 😉

Jaisalmer
Jaisalmer – desert

2 Comments

  • shere

    It was not nice!! Once back at the hostel and after a shower it felt like heaven!! Then I also realized that my pants were bigger than usual (probably we lost a lot of water and didn’t eat so much in two days).

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